When you crave for a Masala Dosa or fluffy soft idlis that melt in your mouth, your thoughts are invariably drawn towards an Udipi Joint … where ever you are, from Memphis to Matunga OR Melbourne to Munirka! And here, be it Matunga or Munirka, the moment you occupy the table, a hyper yet skinny fellow will arrive the next second, wipes your table, greets you with a glass of cold water and rattles down the menu of the day (despite knowing secretly what you may want to gorge on) scrawls down your order and vamooses in under 3 minutes from the time you have taken your tashreef 😉

Post this exercise a predictable chain of events happen PAN India across all Udipis where ever you are sitting, if you observe with little attention! The waiter will shout out your order in a typical loud way which is heard by the cook in kitchen across the hall in corner & the Supply chain gets activated even before this guy goes and hands over the KOT! By the time the waiter is jotting down his next request, the cook shouts back the first order is ready and when the next KOT is handed over, the first order comes along with it to hand you over your goodies to gorge on! It goes on like clockwork 😲

Now coming to the Restaurant in focus, Mitra Samaj, Udipi. This is the mother of all Udupi Restaurants in India which first started the Udupi tradition of cooking and introduced the famed goodies which Udupi Joints churn out. So it has a history naturally, with its origin of Pre Independence Era, from the famed Holla family which still manages this restaurant. They are pretty orthodox and traditional in their way of cooking with neither onion nor garlic or even radish being used in any of their preparations! They have a moderate space with vintage tables all around which give that touch of authentic origin. They also have matching chairs which kind of complete the old world charm jigsaw! Even their name board dates back to 1950s 😃

Food is absolutely delicious and lip smacking is an understatement. They have range of Udupi specialities like Pine apple Shira, deliciously spicy Upma, Buns, Goli Baje AKA Mangalore Bajji apart from regular fare of dosas and fluffy soft idlis with crispy & tasty vadas with their legendary chutney and delectable sambar to boot. You get to meet, greet and eat all these goodies and trademark filter coffee completes the icing on the cake. They also serve Udupi Meals on the adjacent restaurant of theirs which serves only meals which is Yummazing to say the least 😎

Now you know which is the 2nd most important place to visit after visiting the first in Udupi which is obviously the Krishna Matth. Your job gets easy since Mitra Samaj is just adjacent to Krishna Matth complex 😊